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K'iché burial or cache urn base
Maya
Late Classic Period
A.D. 650–850
Object Place: K'iche, Guatemala, Southern Highlands
Medium/Technique
Earthenware: traces of white, black and blue post-fire paint
Dimensions
54.5 x 63 x 48.2 cm (21 7/16 x 24 13/16 x 19 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1297b
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
Rectangular urns with low-relief decoration are rare. Here, a maize deity embellishes the lid, and the skulls on the urn's body signify death and the Underworld.
Catalogue Raisonné
MS1111
DescriptionThis rectangular urn base is embellished with a modeled and painted rendering of the same deity and low-relief rearing jaguar as are found on its lid (1988.1297a). They are flanked on both sides by a row of three, white-painted simian skulls (human or monkey). Traces of carbon are found on the exterior of the base and lid, indicating that the urn came into contact with fire perhaps associated with burial or cache rituals.
ProvenanceBetween about 1974 and 1981, probably purchased in Guatemala by John B. Fulling (b. 1924 – d. 2005), The Art Collectors of November, Inc., Pompano Beach, FL; May 20, 1987, sold by John B. Fulling to Landon T. Clay, Boston; 1988, year-end gift of Landon Clay to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 25, 1989)
NOTE: This is one in a group of Maya artifacts (MFA accession nos. 1988.1169 – 1988.1299) known as the “November Collection” after John Fulling’s company, the Art Collectors of November, Inc. John Fulling sold this group of objects to MFA donor Landon Clay in 1987, and they were given to the Museum the following year.
Evidence suggests that John Fulling built the November Collection from sources in Guatemala between 1974 and 1981. Only a portion of what he acquired during this time came to the MFA in 1988. It is not possible to determine precisely which objects were acquired when or from whom.
NOTE: This is one in a group of Maya artifacts (MFA accession nos. 1988.1169 – 1988.1299) known as the “November Collection” after John Fulling’s company, the Art Collectors of November, Inc. John Fulling sold this group of objects to MFA donor Landon Clay in 1987, and they were given to the Museum the following year.
Evidence suggests that John Fulling built the November Collection from sources in Guatemala between 1974 and 1981. Only a portion of what he acquired during this time came to the MFA in 1988. It is not possible to determine precisely which objects were acquired when or from whom.